Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2025 - SA 443 D100

Ethnographic Sensibility in Action (A) (4)

Ethnographic Sensibility in Action:Illus. Anthr

Class Number: 4956

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 3 – Dec 2, 2025: Fri, 12:30–4:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    Minimum of 72 units including either SA 101 or SA 150.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Selected Topics in Anthropology. Seminar exploring the topic through discussion, and developing original ideas that engage with anthropological theory and methods. Course topic varies with the instructor and section. See detailed course outline for more information. SA 443 may be repeated for credit only when a different topic is taught.

COURSE DETAILS:

Special Topic: Ethnographic Sensibility in Action: Illustrating Anthropology 

How do the tools we use as observers influence the way we perceive, feel, and think about social forms? Note-taking in qualitative research usually prioritizes words (so many words!). The emerging field of “graphic anthropology” considers other modalities for documentation and expression, expanding our understanding of ethnography itself. This course explores what sketching offers as a means of observation, discovery, and communication. What possibilities open up when drawing is used as a deliberately embodied methodology, a format for recording observations, or a means of collaboration with other people? What kinds of social science stories can be told using the possibilities of sketching, illustration, maps, comics, or diagrams? How could graphic communication enable the expression of anthropological insights? How might anthropologists think about how people use graphical expression in specific cultural contexts?

In this hands-on class you will experiment with the possibilities of using sketching and drawing as a mode of attention to the social. You really, truly do not need any skill with drawing to succeed in this course. Your participation involves active experimentation with graphic means of observing, participating in, and analyzing materials and interactions. Class time will be divided between reading/discussion and making activities that invite autoethnographic reflection. The ways of noticing, thinking and doing you learn in this course are applicable beyond anthropology and formal research.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

At the end of this course, students should be able to:

  • Describe how anthropologists (past and present) use sketching, drawing, and the comics format to record, understand and represent social worlds
  • Recognize, describe and explain the human capacity for “graphical practices”, as evident in specific contexts, drawing on both theoretical writing and case examples from the course
  • Analyze and evaluate drawn representations of the social world, with attention to form and communicative context
  • Recognize, explain and discuss how drawing can be used as a method for research, insight and analysis in qualitative social science
  • Combine personal reflection (autoethnography) and analysis (based on course materials) in clear writing and, when relevant, in drawn form.
  • Explore “thinking through drawing” – that is, use the embodied process of sketching as a generative source of insight
  • Hone observational skills by drawing in location and in relation to human activity
  • Develop ease in using sketching and drawing as a mode of knowing and being-in-the-world
  • Experiment with visual forms of communication and the relations between text (writing) and visual (drawing)
  • Expand flexibility of thinking , expression, and communication
  • Develop skills of supportive critique by bringing thoughtful attention to others work

Grading

  • Book report 20%
  • Text -> visual; visual -> text translation 25%
  • Final portfolio 10%
  • Observation practicums 25%
  • 1 reading response/discussion leader 10%
  • Participation and pre-class preparations 10%

NOTES:

(Grades are not based on aesthetic/artistic criteria).

Grading: Where a final exam is scheduled and the student does not write the exam or withdraw from the course before the deadline date, an N grade will be assigned. Unless otherwise specified on the course syllabus, all graded assignments for this course must be completed for a final grade other than N to be assigned. This means that you must write the midterm exam, participate in at least half of the seminars, complete at least half of the discussion questions, give a presentation, and submit the proposal and essay. An N is considered as an F for the purposes of scholastic standing.

Grading System: The Undergraduate Course Grading System is as follows:

A+ (95-100) | A (90-94) | A- (85-89) | B+ (80-84) | B (75-79) | B- (70-74) | C+ (65-69) | C (60-64) | C- (55-59) | D (50-54) | F (0-49) | N*
*N standing to indicate the student did not complete course requirements

Academic Honesty and Student Conduct Policies: The Department of Sociology & Anthropology follows SFU policy in relation to grading practices, grade appeals (Policy T20.01), and academic honesty and student conduct procedures (S10‐S10.05). Unless otherwise informed by your instructor in writing, in graded written assignments you must cite the sources you rely on and include a bibliography/list of references, following an instructor-approved citation style. It is the responsibility of students to inform themselves of the content of SFU policies available on the SFU website.

Centre for Accessible Learning: Students with hidden or visible disabilities who believe they may need classroom or exam accommodations are encouraged to register with the SFU Centre for Accessible Learning (1250 Maggie Benston Centre) as soon as possible to ensure that they are eligible and that approved accommodations and services are implemented in a timely fashion.

The Sociology and Anthropology Student Union, SASU, is a governing body of students who are engaged with the department and want to build the SA community. Get involved!  Follow Facebook and Instagram pages or visit our website.

 

REQUIREMENTS:

Regular attendance is required for in-class activities. No phones or laptops in class except to complete activities.

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

  • A notebook and/or sketchbook
  • A scanner app for your smartphone
  • Some low cost art supplies and/or digital art tools of your choosing: budget for a minimum of 1 sketchbooks, and a small set of pencils, or markers, pens, conte crayon or charcoal.

REQUIRED READING:

You will need to purchase these two books:

  • Causey, Andrew Drawn to See: Drawing as an Ethnographic Method. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 2017
  • Moisan, Marie-Eve et al. Gringo Love : Stories of Sex Tourism in Brazil. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.2020.
  • Other required readings are available via digital library reserves

RECOMMENDED READING:

This book will be available in hard copy in library reserves (we will use sections):

  • Kantrowitz, Andrea Drawing thought: How Drawing Helps Us Observe, Discover, and Invent. Cambridge, Mass: the MIT Press. 2022

REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.